changing to Final Charge coolant

[moisheh]

I fianlly am getting ready to change out all the original AF. I bought 4 jugs of concentrate and 8 of the 50/50. We live 50 miles from the distributor and I wanted enough to also do the Onan. I was looking at the plastic tank and it is mounted so high that you can hardly get a funnel to work. Might have to drop the tank or remove the fill hose . Where doI look for the drain plugs on the ISL? Will 30 gallons of distilled water be enough for the flush (2). The existing coolant is very clean . Unit only has 28,000 miles.
THanks

[Mr_D]

On our DSDP I can only drain about 8½ gallons (out of 12) of coolant. I then filled it with tap water and ran the engine at high idle till the thermostat opened, then drained it. The I filled it with distilled water and ran the engine till it got warm. Then I drained it. I had also installed a flushing "T" for a car to help.
I then added 6 gal of concentrate and SCA and topped off with distilled water. Since I can't fully drain the system I needed to use the concentrate in order to get the 50/50 ratio. If I had used the premix I would only have about a 30/70 mix.

[Barrier2]

Hi Moisheh, Would you mind telling us what you paid for both the concetrate and the 50/50 and where you bought it?
By the way I have used a small hand pump sold by Amsoil and others to pump fluid into the differential that should work well for that, just clean after each. Powerful and large enough diameter hose. Cost about $8.
thanks
Robert

[Twomed]

Funnel with a piece of hose will get you high enough, with a ladder, to pour in easily. My Dy has an allen wrench plug at the forward inside corner of the radiator. You may have to scrape away a little foam if they were not real neat in sealing around the rad. That's plenty of water for your flush.

[Diplomat Don]

Moisheh.....Yours is a side radiator, so I'm not sure where your drain is located. On my rear radiator, it was hidden at the bottom of the driver's side corner. Don't forget to turn on the heater so you flush the coolant out of those lines.

You may want to loosen one of the lower radiator hoses that is the easiest to get to. It will help in draining the system. I drained mine, added the water, ran it until the temp got up and then drained. I repeated this one more time and then added the new coolant.

I think you would be pretty close if you first added two gallons of concentrate and then the rest 50/50. I keep a gallon of the concentrate on board as a spare.

The generator is a pain. It's very difficult to get it to accept coolant after you drain it. Mine wouldn't accept the full gallon....yours might be more...I'm guessing you have the 10K. I panicked and pulled the cover and remove the thermostat to fill. I later read that you have to fill it some and then just wait for it to drain down. If you don't you get an overheat indicator and shutdown. Just keep adding coolant. I think most of the coolant drains from the generator and you can probably just use the 50/50.

[Mr_D]

Here are the instructions that Brett Wolfe posted on the CAT owner forum among others:

The job is reasonably time consuming TO DO RIGHT, but low-tech.

Turn dash heater to full hot for the rest of the procedure—fan off. With the engine cold or at least cool, drain coolant. On some, there is a drain cock. On others, pull the lower radiator hose. I catch it in 2 Rubbermade 10 gallon storage bin lined with black trash sacks so I do not even get them dirty. At the end of the whole process, use a coffee can and funnel to pour old coolant into new coolant/water containers for recycling. Our city maintenance shop recycles coolant for free.

Refill cooling system with tap water. IMPORTANT: Be sure to remove any air lock from the thermostat housing. Some systems have a hose set up for this—on ours I just loosen the coolant line to the air pump and bleed the air out. Allow engine to warm up (using the cruise control to select idle speed of 1,000-1,100 speeds this up). Run for about 10 minutes at regular temp. If the temp gauge does not rise as normal, you likely have an air block and need to bleed the thermostat housing. Allow engine to cool 20-30 minutes and drain again. Repeat until the color is clear.

At this point, if this is the first coolant change on a 2-3 year old coach and you are not changing coolant brands/types, skip right to “Last rinse”. For older systems or for switching types of coolant, add a Cooling System Cleaner such as Cat Fast Acting Cooling System Cleaner 4C4611. Follow directions. Run, allow engine to cool, drain and again flush until effluent is clear. The flushing is markedly sped up by pulling off the heater hose (usually 5/8 to ¾” lines going to dash heater/motor-aid water heater, etc from the water pump. Put a hose nozzle in the hose and let it run until what comes out is clear. Run the engine to temperature at least once with tap water.

If your hoses are over 3-4 years old, this is a good time to change them as well (before last rinse). Same for thermostat(s). Last Rinse is with distilled water. At $.62/gal at Walmart, it is silly to skip this step and leave your system full of high-mineral content water (there will be several gallons of residual water that you can not easily remove). Run engine for 10 minutes after getting to operating temperature. Cool and drain. Also drain and flush your coolant overflow container and refill with new coolant/distilled water.

Add the proper amount of Coolant CONCENTRATE (NOT PRE-DILUTE) to make 50% of cooling system capacity. My cooling system is 18 gallons, so I added 9 gallons of Caterpillar ELC CONCENTRATE (119-5150) (plus one for overflow container). Top off with distilled water to achieve your 50/50 mixture.

This is also a good time to clean the OUTSIDE of the radiator/after-cooler whether you have rear or side radiator. On rear radiator, most if the debris will be on the FRONT of the after-cooler (accessed from under the bed). On side radiators, most debris is on the outside of the after-cooler (side of coach). If it is just dirt, a hose and regular nozzle is all you need. If greasy or oily, use Joy liquid (dish washing detergent) in a spray bottle. Be SURE to rinse it off completely. You need to insure that the perimeter is as clean as the center. Ya, I know it is easier to see the center, but the fan
blades "sling" the dirt to the perimeter.

Check belts while you are in there.

[moisheh]

Thank you for all the replies. Barrier2: I am located in Western Canada and the Final Charge is hards to find. I tried everywhere with no success. But we have a "blender" that has the product rebranded to their label. I paid just under $9.00 for the 50/50 and just over $14.00 for the concentrate. If you are in Canada PM me for the name of the distributor. For some stupid reason AF is always more expensive in Canada so this is a good price.

[moisheh]

I crawled under the Dynasty and I did not see any drain on the rad but there is a petcock pn the metal tube that connects to the lower rad hose. Should work fine. I also found the block petcock right beside the oil filter. There is a water distributor 10 miles from us and he is delivering 6 of the 19.5 liter jugs right to the house for $7.50 each. Great price. I will use them for flushing. Thanks for all the replies.

[Keep smilin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_D On our DSDP I can only drain about 8½ gallons (out of 12) of coolant. I then filled it with tap water and ran the engine at high idle till the thermostat opened, then drained it. The I filled it with distilled water and ran the engine till it got warm. Then I drained it. I had also installed a flushing "T" for a car to help. I then added 6 gal of concentrate and SCA and topped off with distilled water. Since I can't fully drain the system I needed to use the concentrate in order to get the 50/50 ratio. If I had used the premix I would only have about a 30/70 mix.

Did you vent the coolant system after changing the coolant to rid system of air? What process did you use? I didn't change thermostat and I didn't see a pet cock in an elevated position.My rig is a 2002 HR Endeavor , 8.3 Cummins